1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to changing system configuration or updating system firmware in a computer host by a system management controller, and more particularly, to changing the system configuration or updating the system firmware by the system management controller after the user has switched on the power of the computer host, but before booting of the computer host has been completed.
2. Description of the Related Art
When operating a computer system, particularly at the development and testing stages, the user may need to modify configurations of the operating system firmware interface or to update the operating system firmware interface from time to time. Conventionally, the user will try to boot the computer system, and before loading the operating system, switches to configuration tools for the operating system firmware interface to change the configurations. After the changes are done, the user will need to manually reboot the computer system and waste a lot of time in waiting, particularly for large computer systems.
Conventionally, a system management controller is also able to change configurations of the operating system firmware interface or update the operating system firmware interface. The system management controller may be provided with its own user input devices (such as a keyboard and a mouse) and display device for a user to operate the system management controller to perform operations as desired. However, in general, the system management controller rarely needs such user input devices (such as a keyboard and a mouse) and the display device. Therefore, the user input devices cause additional costs and waste. Alternatively a conventional system management controller could be controlled remotely, but it will require network support.